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JAPANESE WOOD ENGRAVINGS

the E-hon Hokan, published in 1688, a well-known collection of legends; the latter by the Yamato kosaku gwasho, an annual of Japanese customs, issued about the same date. The engravings in these are no better than those of the foregoing period, but the books are of interest as the earliest of two classes which were afterwards to be developed in a signal

Fig. 7.—The Three Saké Tasters, a burlesque on an old picture, called "The Three Religions." From an engraving after Okumura Masanobu (c. 17 10). (Author's Collection)

degree by the more able hands of Tachibana Morikuni and Haségawa Settan.

In the same period were printed a number of panoramic views of famous places, engraved on wood in a somewhat coarse style, and folded in such a way as to be capable of taking the shape of a book that could be reopened when necessary into a long continuous sheet. It was probably a convenient adaptation of the makimono, or roll, and may have preceded the bound volume in date. This form, called Orihon